“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

I hope you had a nice Super Bowl break and are now fully engaged in following YOUR plans for 2018 to go the way you want it to!

Today’s blog comes to us courtesy of my wonderful husband’s real estate newsletter, Rick’s Review: Tips on Everyday Life. (I get great exercise one weekend a month, helping him walk through our nearby neighborhoods to hang it on about 600 door handles.)

In his Review, Rick shares with his clients and future clients some of his own favorite recipes, plus inspiring or amusing articles. For January, he included one that really resonates with me. He’s not sure of the originator, since it was emailed to him by a friend, so unfortunately, we can’t give the author the credit he or she deserves.

The list is amusing, pithy, and a great reminder that not all New Year’s Resolutions have to be about making major or difficult changes like getting fit, finding a better job or saving more money. Some opportunities for personal transformation may appear small, but they can measurably increase your happiness, productivity and fulfillment. And what is life really about except creating MORE of those attributes for yourself and others, as you go about pursuing your passion and purpose?

So please enjoy these Tips for a Powerful New Year (original author unknown):

Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile. It’s an ultimate anti-depressant.

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

Live with the 3 E’s: Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.

Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did in 2017.

Make time to practice meditation, yoga and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.

Dream more while you are awake.

Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat fewer foods that are manufactured in plants.

Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away, like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Smile and laugh more.

Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

Forgive everyone everything.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Get rid of everything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

The best is yet to come.

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Do the right thing.

Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

Enjoy the ride. Remember, this is not Disneyland, and you certainly don’t want a Fast Pass.

If you want to start making some of these upgrades in your mindset or habits, here’s my suggestion: Start with THREE that really resonate with you. Work on those until you feel you have mastered them and they have become your new go-to thoughts and habits. Then move on to the next three, etc. etc. etc.

Here are the first three I am committing to do NOW: 4, 9, 11. I will let you know how it goes. If you want an “accountability witness,” feel free to share YOUR three with me or with a friend of yours!

If you or your friends would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to www.practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

To schedule a no-obligation, F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make them a reality, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com.

“Today is unique! It has never occurred before, and it will never be repeated. At midnight, it will end, quietly, suddenly, totally. Forever. But the hours between now and then are opportunities with eternal possibilities.” – Charles R. Swindoll

I hope you have had a chance to complete your 2017 and create a vision for the brand new year that lies before you. If not, there is still time! Go to my blog archives at www.practicalprosperitycoach.com and use the past two blogs to guide you in these important steps to lay the foundation for a happy and successful New Year.

If you have completed these two steps, there is one remaining step for you to get your year off to a successful start and maintain order and ease throughout the year ahead – getting organized. If you practice using the plan I am about to share with you, I can promise your 2018 will be filled with more internal peace and ease and more external efficiency and productivity.

(What follows is a lightly-edited post I published in June, 2015 that is definitely worth reviewing to get your year off to a great start!)

One of the biggest challenges my coaching clients seem to face is how to sort out multiple priorities among all the important tasks and projects they want to accomplish each day. With a demanding full-time job and a side business to manage, along with a family that needs their time and attention, how on earth are they supposed to find time for their own personal needs like daily exercise and Personal Development time? Where is that elusive “life balance” everyone wants?

I show them how to prioritize and manage their many accountabilities with ease, using a simple system I learned years ago. I call it the “Big Rocks” weekly scheduling system, after a memorable demonstration by a time management/efficiency expert.

First, he placed a big glass jar on a table. Next to it, he placed four glass jars containing rocks, pebbles, sand and water. He asked the audience in which order he should put the four substances into the jar so that ALL of them would fit. Looking at the four containers separately, it seemed unlikely that the rocks, pebbles, sand and water could ALL fit into the one big jar, but he promised they would IF they were put in the right order.

Finally, someone got it: Put the BIG rocks in first, followed by the pebbles (which filled in the open spaces between the rocks), then the sand that sifted down into the cracks between the pebbles, and finally the water, which seeped down between everything, filling the jar to the top. Yes, all four items DID fit into the available space, even though it looked impossible when you considered them separately.

The point he was making is that if you take care of your most important tasks (the “Big Rocks”) FIRST, all your other tasks can be managed with ease. But if you eat up most of your day checking off a long list of meaningless “little stuff” – or worse, spinning your wheels trying to figure out what to tackle first — you won’t have enough time and energy left to accomplish the truly IMPORTANT things that will make the biggest difference for you.

In addition to this great prioritizing insight, I also learned another key principle of productivity from the book “Master Your Workday Now!” by Michael Linenberger. He asserts that, while you may like to think you attend to the most “important” tasks first, the truth is, we all invariably do the most URGENT tasks first, whether or not they are the most IMPORTANT to us. These may or may not be your personal priorities, but they are tasks with a short deadline that your boss, church committee, spouse, kid’s teacher, Team members or customers say they MUST have your help with right NOW. You will put out these annoying little fires first because alleviating the internal pressure caused by the feeling of urgency trumps all.

Linenberger believes that, as a rule, we can handle a maximum THREE urgent matters each day. When more than three urgent tasks are competing for your attention at one time, your brain loses the ability to prioritize and accomplish them. Most of the time, attempting to accomplish more than three urgent “Big Rocks” causes your brain to shut down and not finish some or all of them, or makes you to try to get them done in a slap-dash way that produces poor results.

What is the best way to accomplish your most urgent and importantBig Rocks tasks each day? Rule #1 is DO NOT schedule yourself for more than THREE Big Rocks per day. These are defined as tasks that must be done by YOU (meaning you cannot delegate them to someone else) AND must be done or worked on TODAY. If it can be delegated, ask for help! If it can be put off to a later time and still be done properly, schedule it as one of your “Big Rocks” for another day.

All this talk of urgency probably doesn’t sound very easeful, does it? So how do you accomplish three Big Rocks, along with the rest of your To-Dos every day with a feeling of ease and control? Simply PLAN your Big Rocks in advance! Here’s how Mr. Linenberger’s book taught me to do it:

For 20-30 minutes each weekend, sit quietly with your long To-Do list of upcoming tasks and projects and your day planner calendar open to the coming week. Study your To-Do list carefully and decide which tasks are going to be your Big Rocks to accomplish during the coming week.

Schedule a maximum of THREE Big Rocks tasks per day into your weekly planner/calendar at the TIMES of day you think they should be done. Some Big Rocks will be appointments at set times, such as a conference call with a potential business partner at 10am on Tuesday, a dentist appointment at 3pm on Friday, getting your car’s oil changed on Thursday morning, going to your kid’s soccer tournament Thursday at 4pm, etc. Other daily Big Rocks will be projects and tasks that you must choose the best day and time for YOU to work on. In that case, you will be blocking out times on your appointment calendar that you feel are optimal for you and the results you want, such as making prospecting calls from 10am to 11am each day, writing a report that’s due by the end of the week from 2pm to 5pm on Tuesday, practicing the cello each day from 5 to 6pm, in preparation for a recital in two weeks, etc.

IF a conflict arises between a previously-set appointment (which, of course, you wrote in your planner the minute you set it) and a Big Rock task or event that came up later, your weekly planning time alerts you to either change the current appointment OR negotiate a time change for the task or event. Being in integrity requires that you notify anyone else who will be affected by such changes, just as soon as you become aware of them. If another’s expectations are not going to be met, alerting them ASAP allows them time to either get someone else to fill in for you or to negotiate a new time for you to accomplish it.

After scheduling the three Big Rock tasks and appointments for each day of the coming week, you then can fill in the rest of the open times with your “Pebble Tasks.” These are not as important as the Big Rocks and/or they can be done at flexible times, so you can fit them in after you see what the Big Rocks schedule looks like each day.

Next, come the “Sand” and “Water” items, such as errands. If these small items don’t get done today, it’s not a big deal; you can still fit them amongst the Big Rocks and Pebbles another day. Try to be efficient by looking at your To-Do list for multiple errands that can be done in the same trip and block those out for 30 minutes or an hour in a given day. TIP:Always have something useful to read or listen to while you commute or are stuck waiting somewhere for a few minutes. Don’t waste precious time playing games on your smart phone when you could be reading a good book or improving your skills via a recorded training call.

IMPORTANT CAVEATS:In order for this system to work:

You absolutely MUST keep a daily/weekly planner that has slots of at least 30 minutes for each day. (My coaching appointment calendar has 15-minute time slots from 8am to 8pm each day.)

AND

You must keep ALL of your appointments – business, personal, doctors, kids’ sports, social engagements, etc. on the SAME planner/calendar. If you have multiple calendars going for different areas of life, you will inevitably double-book yourself for something important and tears will flow.

My clients who faithfully use this simple “Big Rocks” weekly scheduling system report that it really works! They have a greater sense of control over their time and no more stress and guilt from double-bookings or forgotten appointments. And they have a real sense of accomplishment at the end of they day because they were able to complete the things that really mattered to them, instead of just checking off a bunch of little tasks that can’t help them reach their Big Goals.

Is setting aside time each weekend to plan your week ahead worth the sacrifice of 30 minutes of precious me time or family time? I promise that, in return, you will gain a greater sense of personal control, lower your stress level, and begin to create that “life balance” we all crave. Seems totally worth it, doesn’t it?

PLEASE NOTE:The blog will be taking the next two weekends off for taxes (Ugh!) and Super Bowl Sunday (Yay!). A brand new Cup of Caroll will appear in your in-box on Sunday, February 11th.

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com and request a complimentary session.

“If you only did the things you don’t want to do, you’d have everything you want.” – Mel Robbins , Stop Saying You’re Fine

First, I want to thank everyone who sent me their lovely birthday greetings and good wishes on my birthday last Friday! I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating at The Happiest Place on Earth (AKA Disneyland) with my wonderful husband, Rick. The weather was perfect and we even manifested an unusually small crowd for a summer day.

Because of my birthday and preparing my upcoming six-session “Prosperity Summer Camp”webinar to teach you step-by-step exactly how to create ANYTHING you want using the Law of Attraction, I did not have time to prepare an original blog for today.

However, because I needed some valuable material to share with you, the Law of Attraction (which says “energy attracts like energy”) guided me quickly and easily to a great post by WalktheTalk.com (which I have permission to reprint) about an important topic that has come up a lot lately among my coaching clients: How do you prioritize the many tasks and goals competing for your time to ensure you will accomplish the ones that really matter MOST to you?

The answer follows! I hope you will find it as helpful as I did.

“Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. In Eat That Frog, author Brian Tracy says that your ‘frog’ should be the most difficult item on your to-do list because, if you eat that first, it’ll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But if you let the frog sit there on the plate and stare at it while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won’t even know it. Your ability to select the most important task at the moment and get it done will have more of an impact on your success than any other quality or skill.” – WalktheTalk.com

“Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything” from the book Eat That Frog! By Brian Tracy

“The 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. It is also called the ‘Pareto Principle’ after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the ‘vital few,’ the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the ‘trivial many,’ the bottom 80 percent.

He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times more than the other eight items put together.

Number of Tasks versus Importance of Tasks

Here is an interesting discovery. Each of the ten tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of any of the others.

Often, one item on a list of ten tasks that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.

Focus on Activities, not Accomplishments

The most valuable tasks that you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done.

Before you begin work, always ask yourself, ‘Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?’

The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of your mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.

Motivate Yourself

Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination. Time management is really life management, personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events. Time management is having control over what you do next. And you are always free to choose the task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between the important and unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.

Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average person and are much happier as a result. This should be your way of working as well.”

Thanks, Brian! Once again, he has proven that the most profound, impactful ideas are often the simplest! If you will just discipline yourself each day to identify and then plunge in and tackle your 20 percent most IMPORTANT tasks (also often known as “Income Producing Activities”) FIRST, you will inevitably create all the success, money, time freedom, happiness, fulfillment and self-esteem you could possibly want.

And once you realize that you really DO stand to gain ALL those goodies, then eating that ugly old frog doesn’t seem so daunting, now does it?

IMPORTANT NOTE: A Cup of Caroll is taking next week off for our USA Independence Day holiday weekend AND so that I can continue preparations for my Prosperity Summer Camp webinar. On June 19, you should have received the first email letting you know that registration is now OPEN and Early Birds who register by June 30 will qualify for two additional VALUABLE gifts! If you didn’t get it, watch for the next email about the course that comes out Monday the 26th and jump right in! The six-module Zoom course begins on Tuesday evening July 18. I promise it will be interactive, fun and create lots of new prosperity for all who join me. Your friends, family and Teammates are welcome to join the course. Please pass my emails along to them and encourage them to sign up too! (If you or they have any questions, please email me right away.)

If you or your friends would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to http://practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

“If you only did the things you don’t want to do, you’d have everything you want.” – Mel Robbins

What important task are you dragging your feet about doing right now because you just don’t “feel” like it?

I have to be honest, for me today, Number One is writing this blog. I love to write, but I have a lot of things I’d prefer to do on a beautiful Spring day, rather than sit in front of my computer trying to come up with a topic that can inspire my readers to be more efficient, successful and fulfilled in their lives.

No matter how much you value keeping your word to yourself and others, I am sure you, too, know exactly what it’s like to want to avoid doing something that you know will benefit you or someone else.

The human Ego much prefers sitting on the couch, safe and comfy, avoiding anything that will challenge the status quo in your life. Pursuing your Big Goals usually requires sustained effort, self-discipline, risk and emotional or physical discomfort.

Of course, Life Coach Mel Robbins is 100% right. Instead of sharpening pencils, cleaning out the junk drawer, procrastisnacking, re-arranging your lists, perusing (and envying) others’ Facebook posts and binge-watching just one more episode of your favorite show – consider where you could be if you had just plunged in and finished the very task you DON’T want to do: Make the call, go to the gym, update your resume, apply for the job you really want, apply for a business loan, join an online dating service, call your loved one and apologize for the fight you had?

What would your life look like right now?

One of my clients recently made me laugh the when she blurted out, “I didn’t read your blog this week. I HATE reading blogs.”

Really? You “hate” getting tips that can help you succeed? Being challenged and inspired? Developing your character? Learning how others have overcome the same challenges you are facing? Stretching your belief in what is possible for you?

I was tempted to reply, “Well, sometimes I hate WRITING the blog!” But that’s not true. I actually love writing – or I would not have put in the thousands of hours of effort over my lifetime in order to develop that skill.

But do I love being 100% accountable for producing a blog that consumes half of my Saturday three times a month? HeckNO! I would much prefer to be in my backyard right now, stretched out on the chaise lounge with an iced tea and a good book. That would be nice for ME, but what about my readers, who read the blog and write comments such as, “This is exactly what I needed to hear today.” Or “I felt so relieved to read that – Now I know I’m not alone.” They are what keeps me accountable.

Not everything we do is for someone else’s benefit, of course. Many of the tasks we avoid doing are uncomfortable things we don’t want to do but which we know will bring us the results we say we want to have.

In her wonderful, tell-it-like-it-is book, Get Over Your Damn Self, direct sales Superstar Romi Neustadt admits that even SHE doesn’t want to be accountable for doing the daily activities that have made her a multi-millionaire in a few short years.

According to Romi, “You’ve got to figure out what it is you really want that you don’t already have. Whatever it is, it’s got to be important enough to get you to do something with commitment and consistency. It’s got to be important enough to get you up, to make one more phone call, to reach out to one more person….even when you are bone-ass weary. Because if we want something bad enough in this life, we make it happen. It’s just that simple.”

Here’s Romi’s great method for overcoming the Ego’s natural preference for avoiding all uncomfortable tasks: At the start of her business, she wrote down her WHYin vivid detail, including both the carrot and the stick. She listed all the great things having a successful direct sales business could produce for her and her family AND all the tragic disappointments that would occur if she didn’t do the things necessary to succeed.

She kept that piece of paper by her bed and read it first thing every morning before her feet hit the floor. She used it as leverage to make herself get up every day and do the tasks she didn’t want to do, but knew she must do, in order to get her WHY.

Mel Robbins has her own simple, foolproof method to counteract the Ego’s desire for inertia. She calls it “The Five Second Rule.” Most of my coaching clients have watched Mel’s short TED Talk about this.

I urge you to spend 20 memorable minutes being entertained and confronted with the reality that you have just five seconds to do what you promised yourself to do when the time comes to do it. If you wait longer than five seconds, like a skilled courtroom litigator, your wily Ego will make a compelling argument for why it would be better to “wait until tomorrow” to carry out the task.

Guess what the outcome will be if you listen to that voice inside your head instead of keeping your promise and taking action right NOW?

That’s right. You will never get your WHY. Instead, you will earn a comfortable seat on the sidelines, watching as others get their WHYs.

Next Sunday the blog will be taking the day off so that I can spend Easter with my family. A Cup of Caroll will return on Sunday, April 23.

If you would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to my website at http://www.practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

I invite you to give a friend, colleague or loved one a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching. It is absolutely F*R*E*E* with no obligation and no strings attached! You can give this to as many people who will really appreciate it as you wish. (If you haven’t been in coaching with me for a while, feel free to claim it for YOURSELF, too!)

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help them clarify their Big Goals and get into ACTION to make this their BEST year yet, have them contact me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or toll free 888-503-8145 to schedule their session.

“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do.” – Andrew Carnegie

Honest, thoughtful, effective communication creates the foundation for fulfilling, lasting personal and business relationships. Those relationships, in turn, become the foundation for our success in life. And whether you realize it or not, people really DO notice how you behave when you communicate (or don’t) and judge you by your actions.

Over my eleven-plus years of coaching, I have witnessed a number of less-than-optimal communication “manners” among my clients that I know can limit their success. Now, I want to share with you, too, a few practical tips for making your own communication habits more effective, successful and enjoyable:

Give them your undivided attention. When I coach, I sit at my desk, listening intently and taking notes about what my clients are saying, occasionally taking a sip of water (as quietly as possible) when my throat gets dry. Most of them give me their undivided attention, too. But over the years, I have heard some banging pots and pans, running water, dragging furniture, chewing gum (or food) and slurping beverages. I often wonder if they do the same things while talking to their customers, colleagues and loved ones. The message this sends to your conversation partner is that “You are not important enough to me to give you my undivided attention.” So please don’t multi-task while you are on the phone. (And please don’t be looking at or on your phone in the presence of someone you are supposed to be paying attention to – including your kids!)

Don’t avoid a conversation. Many of my clients are used to texting or messaging their friends, customers and prospects. Rarely do they pick up the phone, even if the conversation is likely to have extended back and forth question and answers. If you want to speak to someone, CALL them and leave a voice mail if they don’t pick up. In this text-happy world, leaving a voice message conveys to your listener that they matter SO much to you that you actually wanted to have a real conversation with them! One of my clients who took my advice to call her prospects reported that the ratio of replies she got was triple what her texts had garnered.

Respond to your messages promptly. Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. If you want your teammates, customers, prospects and loved ones to return YOUR messages, ask yourself how promptly YOU respond to emails, texts and voice mails. Many of my clients complain about lack of response from others, but when I send them an urgent or critical email, I have learned to put PLEASE RESPOND in capital letters in the subject line – and some of them still never answer. Often, I have to resort to texting to make sure they got my email! Causing other people to wonder and worry about whether you got their message or whether something is wrong between you will not make them enjoy communicating with you. Is your voice mailbox full? Do you have a week’s worth of emails or 20 texts you haven’t looked at? If you don’t respond to others in a timely manner, the Law of Attraction (“energy attracts like energy”) says YOU will attract plenty of people who will frustrate you by not responding.

Keep your word. This is the #1 MUST for effective communication. If you made an appointment to meet someone at Starbucks and then just didn’t show up, you can imagine how they will react! Why is it any less of an affront if you stand them up for a phone appointment they planned on and made time for? As soon as you realize that you are running late or can’t make it, text or leave a voice mail. They will forgive you if you apologize and give a BRIEF explanation (not a rambling, self-serving excuse). But if they call and you are just not there, they will get the message loud and clear that they don’t matter much to you. One of my past clients used to complain that some team members in her organization purposely cut her out of the loop on communications. I was stumped why they would do this to such a nice person — until I discovered that she is rather infamous for standing them up on set appointment calls, often when they have a business prospect on the line with them.

When you mess up, fess up. When the stood-up team member would later text that Leader to ask why she hadn’t picked up, she would usually text a lame excuse such as, “Ooops — My phone died!” That is not a real apology – or even a good explanation. Hey, we are all human. If you mess up, you will be forgiven, as long as you explain briefly, take full responsibility and sincerely apologize for the impact your slip up had on the other person. A perfect example happened this week, when one of my longtime clients called over an hour late for our appointment to apologize with this brief message: “I am so sorry. I got engrossed in writing a report for work and completely lost track of the time. I value your time and I take full responsibility for missing our session.” That was all we needed to get our relationship back on good terms.

I hope these tips will help you create fulfilling relationships built on mutual trust, honesty and respect. Those are the kind that last and will bring you rich rewards!

I invite you to give a friend, colleague or loved one a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching. It is absolutely F*R*E*E* with no obligation and no strings attached! You can give this to as many people who will really appreciate it as you wish. (If you haven’t been in coaching with me for a while, feel free to claim it for YOURSELF, too!)

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help them clarify their Big Goals and get into ACTION to make this their BEST year yet, have them email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call 888-503-8145 to schedule their session.

“The moment you commit and quit holding back, all sorts of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance will rise up to help you. The simple act of commitment is a powerful magnet for help.” – Napoleon Hill

What a difference a week makes! Last week, I wrote about how a (now) former client sabotaged his success by refusing to be accountable for his own decisions and actions. Today, I am celebrating the end of a month in which a number of my clients reached their BIGGEST goals through their willingness to be 100% committed to and accountable for their own success.

Several of them received a beautiful new Lexus, with the lease 100% paid for by their network marketing company. A number of newer Leaders reached “Level 5” – the first major Leadership level in the company’s pay plan. In turn, seasoned Leaders who supported them soared to new heights themselves, as the new Level 5 Leaders became the wind beneath their wings.

One of the things I respect most about the network marketing/direct sales business model is that it does not foster internal competition among the work force, as Corporate America does. In a traditional company, the Vice President has to die, retire, quit or be fired if YOU want to become the Vice President. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you have to get in line and wait your turn. But in a network marketing/direct sales company, every independent Consultant can rise to the very top – provided he or she is willing to commit to that goal and be accountable for taking the necessary actions to achieve it.

I am so impressed by the teamwork I witnessed among my clients – “upline” Leaders and their “downline” Leaders actively helped each other to reach their individual goals. The abundance mentality and camaraderie were inspiring. I want to share with you the key lessons I got from watching them overcome every obstacle that stood in their way, because these are the necessary components for reaching ANY Big Goal you may have:

1) You do not have to know how you are going to reach your Big Goal. You just have to be 100% committed that you WILL. There is no try! You are either 100% IN or you might as well sit comfortably on the sidelines and save yourself the effort. To me, the definition of “commitment” is a rock-solid BELIEF that you will reach your Big Goal coupled with a willingness to PERSEVERE in overcoming all obstacles in your path. The “How” starts to take shape as soon as you demonstrate that you are 100% committed to your Big Goal. That’s when God/The Universe sends you the people, resources and unexpected help to reach it in seemingly-miraculous ways.

2) You must ask for help and support. Every Leader I watched reach her Big Goal last month had lots of help from her Teammates, friends and family. It can be humbling to ask for help, especially if you are used to being the go-to person to whom others look for support. Even star athletes in individual sports have coaches, trainers, sponsors, family and friends who provide the essential support that lets them do their best and WIN. Doesn’t it feel good to YOU whenever you help someone else get something they really want? You have to remember that the same is true for others. Please allow them to experience the joy of being part of a Team Goal that is bigger than themselves!

3) Don’t ever let another’s lack of belief affect yours. An emerging Leader who was running for a Big Goal last month received a scathing email from her well-meaning former boss, telling her she was crazy to be involved in network marketing and inviting her to come back to work for her in the “sane” corporate world. I was so proud of my client. She refused to get defensive or let another person’s perspective make her doubt herself or her dreams. She sent a short message thanking her old boss for her concern, but stating that she loved what she was doing, was successful, and was soon going to be even MORE successful. She went on to quadruple the size of her Team in just 30 days!

4) Watch your language. One of my Seasoned Leader clients wisely coached her newer Team members to watch the words they used when talking about their Big Goals. She knew the immense power words have to influence their BELIEF. We literally “brainwash” our subconscious mind — for good OR for bad – through our choice of words. So she constantly reminded her Team members to say, “WHEN I reach my Goal,” instead of “IF I reach my Goal.” Instead of “I’m not good at sponsoring,” she taught them to say, “I am getting better at sponsoring every day.”

5) Never, never, never give up. Even if you are just a few hours from the deadline to reach your Big Goal, DO NOT mentally throw in the towel! The minute your commitment wavers, the energy of the whole Team flags and the game is lost. One of my clients reached her Big Leadership Goal during the last 15 minutes of the month! She never gave up, so her Team didn’t either. If Plan A didn’t work, they immediately turned to Plan B. The unexpected blessing that came out of them all pulling together to help their Leader reach her goal was that two of the Team members whose businesses had been dormant for months suddenly revived their enthusiasm and are now back to actively working on their own success.

Stronger faith, greater inner strength, a sense of accomplishment, the joy of teamwork, learning to graciously accept help from others – these are the REAL prizes that come from being committed to reaching a Big Goal. Public recognition, more money, a new car – these are merely the fun little “carrots” that God/The Universe dangles in front of our Egos to lure us out of our comfort zones so we can make the effort to grow and develop into the BEST we can be. Thank goodness we keep falling for it!

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call toll-free 888-503-8145.

“When everyone on the team is accountable, the team’s effectiveness rises above the sum of its parts.” – from the book Pulling Together

The dictionary definition of the word “accountable” is “Responsible to somebody else or to others or responsible for something.”

This week, when one of my clients showed a very off the wall reaction to the idea of being accountable, I suddenly realized that the meaning and value of accountability are NOT self-evident nor universally-accepted. I think it’s worth examining the concept of being accountable and understanding the crucial role it plays in helping you reach your Big Goals.

When you promise (I like the word “commit” even more) to do something, you are making yourself accountablefor keeping your word, whether it is to someone else or to yourself. Most of us try our best to keep our promises to others, even to our own detriment sometimes. But how often do we make commitments to ourselves that we fail to be accountable for, like going to the gym three times a week, making a certain number of prospecting calls each day, taking time to do our personal development work every morning, etc.?

With every one of my coaching clients, I share a number of powerful tools that will put the Law of Attraction (“energy attracts like energy”) into action to help them reach their Big Goals much faster and more easily than they can do simply with their own smarts and hard work. That’s because they don’t know the best, most efficient way to reach their Big Goal – but God/The Universe does. To get help with the “How,” all they have to do is to ASK for what they want, clearly and specifically, BELIEVE that it is possible, and demonstrate that they are 100% COMMITTED to their Big Goal.

Simply saying you want something doesn’t prove that you are really committed to having it – only your ACTIONS do. By taking whatever actions you know to take right now – even making just ONE committed step toward your Dream — activates a Divine “matching funds” program that can connect you to the people, resources and serendipitous “coincidences” to help you fulfill your Big Goal in amazing ways.

Minister Joel Osteen explains it beautifully: “In this day and age, we are equipped with so many wonderful resources in the natural: technology, education, abilities. It’s easy to rely on our own natural strength for so many things…[But] we aren’t limited to the earth’s resources; we have unlimited spiritual resources by the Spirit of God. There are some things that can’t happen by human thinking and reasoning. There are things that won’t be solved by natural power and might. But God is not limited by the resources of this world.”

Accountability is a way of proving your commitment to your Big Goals. My clients often choose an accountability partner in their own business or personal life with whom they voluntarily check in daily or weekly to be held accountable for carrying out their promises to take ACTION on their Big Goals.

And, of course, providing an accountability structure for following through on the action plan they set for themselves each week is part of my job as their Coach. As long as a client does their best to show COMMITMENT to a Big Goal by keeping their promises to themselves and others, I know that God/The Universe will show them an even BETTER plan for reaching their Big Goal.

This past week, a client of four months fell off the accountability bandwagon — so badly, in fact, that it forced me to do something that I have done only three other times in nearly 11 years as a professional Coach.

The problem wasn’t that he broke his promises to himself and to me – that is something that happens to most of my clients at one time or another. A big part of my job is to help them recognize exactly what caused them to drop the ball and then strategize with them to come up with logistical fixes such as changing the timing, setting alarms and other reminders, or asking for assistance from others to help them carry through on their commitments.

Yet, despite my many helpful suggestions, this client routinely admitted that he had not carried through on his promise to use ALL of the Law of Attraction tools I had given him to their full effect. He would read his Daily Success Script every morning but was always “too tired” to do it at night. He claimed to feel grateful for the huge commission increase he had seen in the past 90 days. Yet, he was usually “too busy” to list 10 things he was grateful for in his Gratitude Journal each day, as a way of thanking God/The Universe for this prosperity and indicating he would welcome even MORE.

No, it wasn’t his failures to perform that were the problem. It was his refusal to take 100% responsibility for breaking his word. The prior Wednesday, just minutes before our scheduled call, he texted me that he was too busy with servicing all his new clients to talk to me then, and asked if we could reschedule. Wanting to support him, I gave him a slot that wasn’t particularly convenient for me, and he was happy.

We had a good call on Friday and I thought all was well until the following Wednesday when, right before our coaching time, he texted me (I swear I am not making this up!): “When my alarm went off that it was almost time to coach, it caught me by surprise. Doing it Friday means today came up quicker than my body clock was anticipating….I left all my stuff at home. I guess we need to reschedule.”

I texted him back that I wanted us to go ahead with the call as planned and that I wanted to share with him a powerful technique I learned years ago from Landmark Education for restoring your integrity with others who have been impacted by you not keeping your word.

I got crickets in return and I was left waiting by the phone for about 20 minutes before giving up and composing an email to him instead.

I believed that calling him out directly and strongly might be what was needed to finally shake him out of his complacency and make him understand that his lack of personal accountability was going to have a BIG negative impact on his ability to reach his goals. So I wrote an admittedly strong email to him. I have re-read it several times since, and though I now know he considered it “harsh,” I still feel it was the right thing to do and wouldn’t change a word of it. Here it is (edited a little bit for length):

“You really caught me by surprise today! I am very tired, having gotten maybe 3 hours sleep after a restless night. My patience is thin and I was looking forward to really focusing in and giving you my BEST today, regardless of the circumstances. That is my commitment to YOU, as a professional coach you are paying to help you succeed.

Then I got your text saying that your stuff is at home because you forgot we had a call. That is not a big deal! We could have had the call anyway….Instead, you threw in the towel just like that. Like this session didn’t really matter to you. And I know it does. I know your financial success is pretty close to life or death for you in reality. And yet you would throw away a precious hour to learn more and gain more ground and get help with whatever your challenges are – just like that.

I thought to myself, ‘OK, he is not really ready to coach today for other reasons – under the gun with paperwork, etc.’ I GET that. If you had said that, I would have understood. That is standing up and taking 100% responsibility. I just wanted to tell you how to restore your integrity whenever you have fallen short of your word. (Your word is to be ready to coach at your appointed time each week.)

It’s not hard to do. It’s very powerful and liberating. I could have taught you the script for it in 5 minutes and forever after you could take responsibility with maturity and be respected by others, even when you have fallen short of your promises or goals. But you would not give me the 5 minutes to do that.

This is why I am re-thinking whether we should be in coaching. I only coach the willing and the coachable. Too many people want and need help that I don’t have precious time to spend trying to persuade a grown up to come to the phone and learn a powerful integrity-restoring technique that will have him WIN in his life.”

I ended by asking for his thoughts, but never heard another thing from him until the next week’s scheduled coaching call. He called right on time and immediately launched into lecturing me that I was “rude,” “condescending,” did not “walk my talk” and that my email was an emotionally-volatile “rant” for which he could see no positive purpose. As proof, he had shown my email (without my permission) to four people who ALL agreed with him.

Realizing he was being defensive and unwilling to consider any other point of view, I knew exactly what was needed, for both our sakes. I quietly replaced the receiver in mid-rant and wrote him another email. In it, I stated that it’s 100% clear that we are complete with our coaching, that I am very happy his Big Goal of creating a specific amount of commission income over the past 90 days was fulfilled exactly, and that I wish him the very Best with his future endeavors.

Maybe you will agree with his four friends that I was too harsh. But I doubt it. Because if you are a regular reader of this blog and a student of The Law of Attraction and/or the Golden Rule, you already know that it takes personal responsibility, commitment, love for yourself and genuine caring for others in order to manifest Big Goals. And that’s why I am sure I will never, ever, have to say to YOU, “You’re Fired!”

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call toll-free 888-503-8145.